Prince Merrick's Adventures
by Month4
Summary: The next generation after Princess Hi. Not one that's a Good VS. Evil story, but has some elements for the one that will be in that category, Which I will write sometime in the future.
1. Chapter 1

"Merrick! It's almost time for your first day of school!" calls the crowned princess of The Radiant Garden, Hi. Today is Monday and the day Princess Hi's son, Prince Merrick, starts school. He's going to the Royal Prep Academy.

"There's no need to call mom," says a small voice from behind her. Princess Hi turns to see her little boy all ready to go with the same magic backpack she had before him. Prince Merrick has short red hair like Queen Kairi has, but looks like his dad.

"Well, all that's left is to wait for dad," exclaims Princess Hi.

"And I'm right here," says Prince Igneous as he enters the front hall. "Let get going. We have to get to our off world jobs." So they board the magic gummiship that was a new invention. Disney World didn't have enough potential drivers to produce a way for all people to go from world to world, so now the gummiships are enchanted to drive themselves. Donald and Goofy had taken up positions as teachers to their old posts.

World of Kingdoms (AN: based off of the TV show Sofia the First)

"Now remember, you're not coming straight home after school," says Princess Hi as the gummiship lands. "You're going to go buy school supplies with Flame (Lea's son) and then go to Universe of Heroes and Villains where the gummiship is picking me up to go to the next world I have work on. That is on The World of Balance (AN: OZ's world)."

"OK mom," replies Prince Merrick as he steps out of the gummiship. Prince Merrick watches when the gummiship flies away and out of sight. He is greeted at the gate by The Three Good Fairies.

"Oh, it's so good to see you again Prince Merrick," greets Fauna.

"We've been expecting you," greets Flora.

"Please come this way," says Merryweather. Prince Merrick follows The Three Good Fairies to his first class. Along the way the three fairies loads his arms up with books, a wand and scrolls they said he'll need for the day. Once in the room Flora flies to the podium and Prince Merrick stands beside her.

"Attention students!" Flora calls over the talking students, they quiet down at the sight of Prince Merrick. "We have a new student today. For those of you that didn't sign up for the Multi-World class this young prince is from a different world then this one. This is Prince Merrick. How do we greet him?" All the students stands one at a time. The boys bows and the girls curtsy. They all say 'good morning' to Prince Merrick.

"Now, Prince Merrick, please tell the class about yourself and the world you're from," Flora says to Prince Merrick.

"My name's Prince Merrick and I am from a world called The Radiant Garden," introduces Prince Merrick. "Like the name suggests it is filled with the most beautiful plants you've ever seen. My parents and grandparents are part of a kind of warriors that wield a type of weapon called Keyblades. And someday I will wield one too."

"I think that's enough," exclaims Fauna. "That will be in the next lesson of the Multi-World class. Please be seated." Prince Merrick sits next to a girl with brown wavy hair and wearing a purple dress and a necklace with a shiny purple jewel in it. And on Prince Merrick's other side is a girl with blond wavy hair and wearing a gold colored dress.

At the end of the school day

Prince Merrick walks out with the other students after trading the stuff they lent him for the day for a list of school supplies. Outside is Flame waiting.

"Good afternoon Merrick," greets Flame.

"Hello Flame," smiles Merrick.

"Merrick, you're not supposed to respond to him when he didn't add your title to your name," gasps the blond girl Merrick sat next to in his first class, Amber.

"It's OK Amber," assures Merrick. "On my world we don't use titles. It's been that way since my grandpa became king." Merrick and Flame leaves after Merrick said that.

An hour and fifteen minutes later

Prince Merrick and Flame just walks out the door of a shop when the other girl that sat next to Prince Merrick approaches.

"Hello Sofia," greets Prince Merrick.

"Hi Merrick," returns Sofia. "I just came from Multi-World class. And wanted to talk to you."

"I'd love to talk," replies Prince Merrick. "But we'll have to talk while walking to where my body guard, Flame here, and I will board the gummiship that will take us to another world."

"Wow, that's so amazing," comments Sofia. Along the way they run into Lord Leopan.

"Hello Merrick, I hear you've been through your first day of school," says Lord Leopan. "How was it?"

"It was fine," responds Prince Merrick. "I got to learn new things. This is my new friend, Princess Sofia. She's a local worlder."

"Nice to meet you Princess Sofia," says Lord Leopan with a bow. "My name's Leopan. I'm a lordof Merrick's homeworld."

"Nice to meet you too," replies Sofia.

"Did you find a future keyblader here yet?" asks Prince Merrick.

"In-fact I did decide on one and now I'm going to get the adoption started," answers Lord Leopan.

"Lord Leopan travels around the universe and adopts one orphan that will one day become the keyblader of their birthworld," explains Prince Merrick to a confused Sofia. "Just like his father. His hobby is to collect stuff from those worlds too."

"It all sounds so wonderful," comments Sofia. "What does he collect?"

"All sorts of things," responds Prince Merrick. "He plants a flower that's from the worlds in the town square in the kingdom my parents rules over. He donates a jewel from the worlds in my mother's museum of world's gems. Collects information from the worlds in books and donates them in the kingdom's libraries. All sorts of things."

"Well feel free to look around this world," Sofia says to Lord Leopan. They reach the gummiship platform.

"Well this is where we have to part," exclaims Prince Hi. "I really loved talking with you."

"Me too," responds Sofia. "See you tomorrow." Prince Merrick and Flame boards the gummiship and takes off, Sofia goes home and Lord Leopan continues on his way.

Near The Universe of Heroes and Villains

Prince Merrick could see them approaching the world so he calls Princess Hi via Communicator Star Shard.

"Oh Merrick, thank Kingdom Hearts you called," says Princess Hi once she answers. "I was getting worried."

"I'm fine mom," replies Prince Merrick. "I called to say that I can see The Universe of Heroes and Villains now. We'll be there soon."

"Alright," sighs Princess Hi. "I'm almost done here. But it will take a while longer. You can say hello to The Team while you're waiting."

"OK, see you when you're done," smiles Prince Merrick. "Love you."

"I love you too," responds Princess Hi as the two hang up.

The Universe of Heroes and Villains: Justice League HQ

The gummiship containing Prince Merrick and Flame docks in the hanger of the space station that serves as the headquarters of The Justice League. When the doors closed Nightwing and Aqualad comes into the hanger.

"Merrick, is that really you?" smiles Nightwing.

"It's good to see you Young Prince Merrick," exclaims Aqualad. "The only other time we've seen you was when your parents presented you to us."

"Come on in and say hi to the others," offers Nightwing. So Prince Merrick follows the two heroes into The Justice League Headquarters and stayed for fifteen minutes until Princess Hi arrives. Princess Hi, Prince Merrick and Flame heads off to The World of Balance.

The World of Balance: Qaudling Country (AN: I'm using the Emerald City Confidential game for this world)

The three off-worlders are now in the top of Glinda's tower. The spirit of the good witch hovering over the keystone. Her assistant, Wizard, is there as well.

"Ah, Princess Hi, you made it in time," greets Glinda. "I see that your son had his first day of school recently. How was it?"

"It was good," answers Prince Merrick. "I got to learn new things and made a new friend."

"That's good," comments Glinda. "I've set up a desk for you to do your homework at. I will be at my desk in case you need my help. PINHEAD, you better get to the meeting along with Princess Hi."

A couple of hours later and the off-worlders leaves for their homeworld.


	2. Chapter 2

One year after Prince Merrick's first day of school Prince Merrick enters his and his parents' home, The Old Town Castle.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" calls Prince Merrick.

"We're in the sitting room!" calls back Princess Hi's voice. "We need to talk to you!"

In the sitting room

Princess Hi and Prince Igneous is sitting in the love seat with a chair facing them.

"Sit down Merrick," exclaims Prince Igneous as he indicates the chair across from them. "We have sad news to tell you."

"What is it Mom and Dad?" asks Prince Merrick as he sits on the chair Prince Igneous indicated.

"Your great-grandpa Ansem died last night in his sleep," says Princess Hi. "There is to be a funeral this Saturday. At the burial your grandpa Sora is going to announce that he's stepping off the throne and going to pass it down to me and dad. You're going to be with us the entire time."

"OK, I'll be there," exclaims Prince Merrick sadly as he gets up from the chair. "I'm going into the study to do my homework."

In the study Prince Merrick cries for his last great-grandparent.

That Saturday

All of The Radiant Garden gathers at New Town Square for the funeral. Then they move onto The Royal Graveyard for the burial. As the grave diggers are finishing up burying Ansem's coffin King Sora announces his retirement from the throne. And tells everyone that if they wish to see him crown Prince Igneous and Princess Hi they should meet them in the throne room in The New Castle.

An hour later

Everyone is standing in the throne room where the crowning is to take place. All the members of The Court of Keyblades are in their spots. Princess Hi and Prince Igneous had already walked up to the thrones. King Sora had already given his speech and he is now holding the crown above the kneeling Prince Igneous while Queen Kairi is holding up the crowning tiara above the kneeling Princess Hi.

"With this royal crown I dub you Igneous king of The Radiant Garden!" says Sora in a loud voice as he puts the crown on Igneous's head.

"With this royal tiara I dub you Hi queen of The Radiant Garden," says Kairi in the same manner that Sora did and with the same action. The now King Igneous and Queen Hi sits on their respective thrones as Sora and Kairi stands beside them.

"All hail King Igneous!" calls Sora.

"All hail Queen Hi!" call Kairi. The throne room erupts in cheers repeating what Sora and Kairi said. Prince Merrick walks up and sits on the little throne put there for him. Yen Sid, who was in the crowd the whole time, hands Sora a small sphere. Sora walks to be next to Queen Hi and holds his hand up for silence. After everything has died down Sora begins to speak again.

"Now that I have retired I would like to begin a new tradition," says Sora before he holds up the sphere for everyone to see. "This sphere was enchanted with the power to let members of my bloodline communicate with the actual body of Kingdom hearts. And it lets them see my incarnations through it. All they have to do is to hold it while they are in God or Goddess Form and tell it which of these two options they want. It will be passed down when they take up the throne." Then he turns toward Queen Hi.

"Use it well," Sora tells Queen Hi.

"I will Father," replies Queen Hi.

There is a feast and dancing in The New Town Square to end off the world's day.


	3. Chapter 3

It is now the days when Prince Merrick is an early teenager. The whole Royal Prep school is filled with students that are going to graduate, including Prince Merrick and Princess Sofia. Prince Merrick meets up with Princess Sofia as they are taking their last look at the library. By him being woken up by her when he's taking a nap at one of the tables.

"Hi, what were you dreaming about?" asks Princess Sofia.

"Something that will change my life forever," smiles Prince Merrick.

"Oh, I'm just here to take one last look at this room," sighs Princess Sofia. "I'm going to miss this school."

"I kind of will too," responds the blushing Prince Merrick. "This room was where we properly met. I was doing homework and you came over to make friends with me. That was my favorite memory."

"I don't know what my favorite memory is," replies Princess Sofia.

"Hm, Sofia, there is something I want to ask you for some time now," says Prince Merrick as his blush deepens.

"What is it?" asks Princess Sofia. Suddenly thorny vines appears, covering the window until very little sunlight is shining through. The only light now are from the lamps in the room.

"Those vines look familiar," comments Sofia as she backs into a table. Then there's a cackle from somewhere in the school.

"That laugh is familiar too," says Sofia as she ducks underneath the table. Prince Merrick follows her into her hiding spot. His Communicator Star Shard alerts him to a call. He gets it out, lowers the speaker volume and raises the mic volume before answering it.

"Merrick, are you alright?" asks the mini image of Queen Hi.

"Yeah, I am," answers Prince Merrick. "What is happening?"

"Your father and I are outside now," begins Queen Hi. "The Three Good Fairies managed to tell everyone at the door that the one behind this attack is an evil fairy by the name of Miss. Nettle. They also said that she's looking for Sofia's amulet, and petrifying everyone in sight. After that they were petrified as well."

"I know that fairy," exclaims Princess Sofia.

"Is that Sofia with you?" asks Queen Hi.

"Yes it is," responds Prince Merrick.

"Then protect her," urges Queen Hi. "It's going to take us some time to get in. But until then you must keep Sofia safe, think of it as pre-keyblade training." She says the last part with a smile.

"Yes Mom," replies Prince Merrick with the same kind of smile before hanging up the call.

"Well this isn't good," comments Prince Merrick. "She's going to look in this room for you eventually. So it's only a matter of time before she finds us."

"Yeah," agrees Princess Sofia. "And what's worse is that I don't have a clue on how to out-smart her this time."

"Hm, but maybe I do," says Prince Merrick in thought as he takes a teardrop shaped stone from the magic backpack. He also takes out his wand and with a wave and the words 'mutato purple crystalo' and a flick of the wand the stone turns into a tear drop shaped jewel, one that matches the jewel on Sofia's amulet. After another spell Prince Merrick picks it up and turn to Princess Sofia.

"OK, here's the plan," begins Princess Merrick as he fiddles around with Princess Sofia's amulet.

Ten minutes later

A fairy with frizzly red hair dressed the same way as The Three Good Fairies but in yellow enters the library suddenly. That's when she hears a gasp and sees a flutter of a dress disappear around a bookshelf.

"I got you now," cackles Miss. Nettle as she charges the direction Princess Sofia went. A few minutes later Princess Sofia stops when she comes to a dead end.

"There's nowhere to run now dear," smiles Miss. Nettle wickedly. "Now hand over the amulet and I promise to leave."

"No!" yells Princess Sofia.

"Fine," scuffs Miss. Nettle. "Then I'll just take it." She shoots a beam of magic light at Princess Sofia through her wand. It hits the jewel of the amulet. But instead of the amulet going to Miss. Nettle she gets slowly drawn towards it.

"What's happening?!" shrieks Miss. Nettle. That's when Prince Merrick steps out from around the bookshelf behind Miss. Nettle.

"Oh, just a little spell I enchanted the fake jewel that's in the setting of the amulet you've been seeking," he exclaims. "It latches on to whatever magic touches it and then draws the source inside it. In short, you will be imprisoned in the jewel for the rest of eternity."

"But not by myself," sneers Miss. Nettle as she shoots a second beam of magic at Prince Merrick. Now both Prince Merrick and Miss. Nettle are being drawn into the jewel, but slower than before.

"Merrick!" calls out Princess Sofia.

"Don't worry, I got this," assures Prince Merrick as he raises his hand. "Kingdom Heart head my prayer! I need your power now more than ever!" With a flash of light Prince Merrick now holds his very own keyblade. With it he slices the beam of magic connecting him to a very shocked Miss. Nettle. Thus the jewel quickly finishes sucking only her into its body. Suddenly a portal opens in front of the jewel as Miss. Nettle tries to climb back out. Prince Merrick charges and hits her hands with his keyblade. The portal closes up and Prince Merrick locks Miss. Nettle inside for good. Leaving the fake jewel that turned from transparent purple to yellow and black.

"Merrick, you did it!" cheers Princess Sofia. "And your keyblade came to you for the first time!"

"Yeah, it did," agrees Prince Merrick. "That nap I was having before you woke me up was my awakening. Pretty soon I will be going to Keybladers' School."

The grown-ups arrive in the room just as Prince Merrick places the real jewel for Princess Sofia's amulet back into its setting, and pockets the one with Miss Nettle sealed inside.

At four thirty

Everything is back to normal and the graduation ceremony is underway. They are done handing out the diplomas.

"Now for the awards for the highest scores in the princess deviation and prince deviation," continues Fauna.

"The award for the princess high score goes to Princess Sofia!" announces Flora. Everyone cheers as Princess Sofia walks up the stage, receives a golden trophy and walks back to her seat.

"The award for the prince high score is Prince Merrick!" announces Merryweather. Everyone cheers as Prince Merrick walks up the stage and receives a golden trophy too. But as he begins to turn around to return to his seat he is held back by Flora's hand on his shoulder. Flora gives the signal for everyone to quiet down.

"Before Prince Merrick returns to his seat and we continue to the banquet to celebrate King Roland the second would like to make a speech," explains Flora. The Three Good Fairies flutters back as King Roland the second steps up to the mic. He is carrying a shield with a lion on the front.

"Royal families!" begins King Roland the second. "For protecting my daughter Sofia from the evil fairy, at the same time defeating the fairy, it is my pleasure to award Prince Merrick the Shield of Valor. Which would make him the first out worlder to receive this honor." He hands Prince Merrick the shield and they walk off.

An hour later

Prince Merrick is carrying a small box as he tries to find Princess Sofia in the crowd of royal families. He finds her near the stage holding a small long box.

"There you are Sofia!" calls Prince Merrick as he runs over. "I want to talk to you before we have to part for a really long time."

"Me too," replies Princess Sofia. "I talked with your parents about the time you're going to spend mastering your keyblade."

"Then just think about what I'm going to say now," responds Prince Merrick. "Once I become a keyblade master maybe we could be more than just friends."

"I feel that way too," replies Princess Sofia.

"Then take this as a token of my love for you," says Prince Merrick handing Princess Sofia the box he's holding. Inside is a brooch with a gold setting and the jewel is the one with Miss. Nettle sealed inside.

"Wow," Princess Sofia says in awe.

"I made it myself," smiles Prince Merrick as Princess Sofia hands him the box she was holding. Inside that box is Prince Merrick's wand that he turned into The Three Good Fairies.

"I know you don't need it now that you've got your keyblade," begins Princess Sofia. "But take it as a symbol of the bond we share." Once Prince Merrick had picked it up it turns into another keyblade."

"Wow, you're first keyblade keychain," comments a voice from behind Prince Merrick. He turns to see Jesse watching the two of them.

"Prince Merrick, I'm Master Jesse," introduces Jesse. "I'm one of the instructors at the Keybladers Academy."

"Yes I've seen you during the Keyblade Festivals in The Radiant Garden," smiles Prince Merrick.

"Yes, that's right," confirms Master Jesse. "I'm here to bring you to the school."

"OK, let me say my goodbyes," responds Prince Merrick before he turns to Princess Sofia.

"See you at The Mark of Mastery Exams event at the festival," he says as he hugs her.

"See you then," replies Princess Sofia. Prince Merrick goes on to say goodbye to Queen Hi and King Igneous. Then he heads to his new school on the gummiship Master Jesse take with him when he pick up new keybladers.


	4. Chapter 4

Sometime after Prince Merrick's battle with Miss. Nettle he is now fifteen years old. He and the other keybladers that are a few steps away from being worthy of being tested. They are now in The Universe of Heroes and Villains in The Justice League HQ learning about the importance of teamwork. Prince Merrick and Jesse's son, Welcot, are sparring against M'gann and Robin.

"Look out!" yells Prince Merrick as he swings his keyblade at what appears to be thin air. Suddenly there is a sound of M'gann having the wind knocked out of her. Her transparent body becomes visible as she stumbles back.

"Thank you," says Welcot as he lands a blow to Robin.

"Time's up!" calls Nightwing as he and Jesse walks up to the four on the sparring mat.

"Merrick, how did you know M'gann was trying to do a sneak attack on Welcot?" asks Jesse.

"I don't know how to explain it," answers Prince Merrick. "But since I woke up this morning I've been able to feel the presence of the people in this world, even the heart of this world."

"That's good," comments Jesse with a grin.

"What does that mean?" asks Nightwing.

"You remember how Hi has powers?" asks Jesse, Nightwing nods. "Well it looks like Merrick's powers woke up."

"Congratulations," says Aqualad. Suddenly a bell rings through out the whole base signaling that lunch is ready.

"Yay, celebratory lunch!" cheers Beastboy as everyone starts filing out.

"One last thing," Nightwing stops them with. "When we come back we are going to have Merrick spar one-on-one with you guys. This time with her transformed."

"But I don't know how to transform," replies Prince Merrick.

"Don't worry, I'll call your mother while we eat," responds Jesse. "She'll tell you how she transforms."

A little bit later in the cafeteria

"Congratulations Merrick," grins the holo image of Queen Hi from the Communicator Star Shard. "Grandpa Sora will be so proud when he hears this."

"That's great mother," comments Prince Merrick. "But why we called is because we are now focusing on getting me to transform for the first time. Can you give me any tips?"

"I don't know how much help I can be in this situation," replies Queen Hi. "But I can tell you what I went through."

"Hm, OK," says Prince Merrick slowly.

"The first time I transformed was in my first real battle," begins Queen Hi. "Mim had turned our homeworld into a frozen wasteland. Your grandpa had ordered everyone to evacuate in time thanks to Merlin's warning. Your grandpa had put your grandma's heart into his body, and had taken a potion that sealed both him and your grandma's heart in his own body. Leaving our beloved world with nothing but Mim's underlings in there with Mim in charge. When news had reached me of the fates of my parents and the world where I was born and raised in I went back to challenge Mim. When I was face-to-face with her all I could think about was bringing her down. Remembering everything I learned over the course of time gave me confidence and focusing at the task at hand kept any fears I felt at bay. With those two things I was able to transform for the first time."

"Hm, thanks," says Prince Merrick slowly. "But I don't see how that story will help me."

"Then I'll tell you this one last story on the subject," responds Queen Hi. "After I had driven Mim away she came back in the disguise she wore when she's in the world in secret. She mentioned the parts of your grandpa's adventure where Riku and your grandpa Terra lost control of their powers, scaring me into being too scared to transform again. Later on I asked your grandpa Sora how he controlled his. He sang this part of a song he heard for me to think about:

Close your eyes, and open your heart

Believe in yourself, that's how it starts

Dreams can come true, just wait and see

Because the magic's in you, and the magic's in me."

"Ah, thank you, I'll keep that story in mind too," replies Prince Merrick.

"Sorry I'm not much help," says Queen Hi. "Just in case you lose control on any negative power I'm sending Master Aqua to enchant your keyblade armor."

"OK," shrugs Prince Merrick before hanging up on the call.

After lunch in the training room

It took a few minutes for Master Aqua to arrive. Once she enchanted Prince Merrick's armor piece she steps to the side of the sparing ring.

"OK, now that a safety measure is in place we will figure out what your mom said," begins Nightwing. "Hi said that she transformed for the first time during a battle. So we'll have her spar until she does. First opponent is Lagoon Boy."

Three minutes later

"And the round goes to Merrick," announces Nightwing. "Next up is Robin. Now Merrick, remember what you picked up from sparing with Lagoon Boy, and see if you can use anything from that to fight Robin."

"OK," Prince Merrick slowly replies.

"Don't be nervous," sooths Robin. "We are going from easy opponents to harder ones. It will help build up your confidence."

"And you seriously need it," chimes in Lagoon Boy.

"Lagoon Boy, not now," says Jesse.

"Then why are we training her this way?" asks Lagoon Boy. "What this scaredy-cat needs is to go big." That's as far as he said when Prince Merrick's eyes glows gold and the spot of the floor that Lagoon Boy is standing on shoots up. When the floor piece is just a quarter of the way toward crushing Lagoon Boy's body into the ceiling above Prince Merrick's armor piece automatically activated. Once his body's covered the floor piece stops rising.

"Batman to Nightwing, what happened?!" comes Batman's booming voice over the intercom. Superboy is the one closest to the intercom button on the wall so he presses it and Nightwing talks.

"Nightwing here, just Lagoon Boy opening his mouth the wrong way," responds Nightwing. That's when Prince Merrick gets a call from Queen Hi.

"The Kingdom Hearts Orb told me you lost control of your powers," says Queen Hi. "I'm on my way to help clear this up."

Two and a half hours later

Prince Merrick still trapped in his armor in the living room with The Team minus Nightwing and Aqualad. Then Queen Hi, Flame, Nightwing, Aqualad and Batman enters the room.

"The situation settled," announces Queen Hi. "You can continue training, but Merrick will be training in a different world to help him transform."

"Lagoon Boy is also not joining you for training," adds Nightwing. "He has to repair the damage to the training room floor he made Merrick ruin."

"Question," exclaims Prince Merrick as he raises his hand. "How long am I going to be trapped in my own keyblade armor?"

"Until you learn to control all of your power," answers Queen Hi. "You'll know you've achieved it by being able to transform. That spell seals up all your powers so I'm going to send your old private bodyguard, Flame, just in case."

"Which world are they going to Hi?" asks Jesse's son, Welcot.

"It's a world that Leopan found not far from here," responds Queen Hi. "It's called World of Belief. I already spoke to the Multi-World Knowledge Keeper of that world. He agreed to let you train there and is setting it up with his chosen world protectors called The Guardians."

"And after I'm done there I can return here?" asks Prince Merrick.

"Actually, due to how well you were doing on your tag team match I will let you pass," replies Nightwing. "Now it's time for everyone to wish Merrick good luck before he leaves as soon as possible."

Ten minutes later

Prince Merrick and Flame boards the gummiship that will take them to where Prince Merrick will train. Who knows what's going to happen next.


End file.
